1 Samuel · chapter 1 of 31
Updated on
1 Samuel 1 tells the story of Hannah, Elkanah's wife, who had no children and was provoked by Peninnah. At Shiloh she prays in tears and vows to give the Lord any son he grants her; the priest Eli blesses her, God gives her Samuel, and when the boy is weaned she brings him to Shiloh and presents him to the Lord.
The book of 1 Samuel opens at the end of the period of the judges, when Israel had no king and the priesthood at Shiloh was weak. Before the book speaks of prophets and kings, it begins in a small place: the prayer of a woman without children. From that plea comes Samuel, the man God will use to lead Israel toward the monarchy and to anoint David.
Elkanah, a man from the hill country of Ephraim, had two wives: Hannah, who had no children, and Peninnah, who did. Each year he took his family up to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord, where Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas served as priests. Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion because he loved her, but Peninnah cruelly provoked her to irritate her, and Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah tried to comfort her by asking whether he was not worth more to her than ten sons.
One day, after eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah rose and prayed to the Lord in bitterness of soul and with many tears. She made a vow: if the Lord would look on her affliction and give her a son, she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor would touch his head. Eli, who was watching, saw her lips moving with no sound and thought she was drunk. Hannah explained that she had not been drinking wine but was pouring out her soul before the Lord. Eli sent her away with a blessing: may the God of Israel grant what she had asked.
Hannah went away, ate, and her face was no longer sad. The next morning they worshiped and returned to their home in Ramah. The Lord remembered Hannah, and she bore a son and named him Samuel, because she had asked him of the Lord. When the boy was weaned, Hannah took him to Shiloh with a three-year-old bull, flour and wine. She presented the child to Eli, reminded him that she was the woman who had prayed there, and declared that she was leaving him for life in the Lord's service. And there they worshiped the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Hannah asks the Lord to look on her affliction and give her a son, and she promises to give him to God for life. Her vow turns personal pain into an offering: she asks for a son not for herself, but for the Lord.
Hannah tells Eli that she is not drunk but has poured out her soul before the Lord. The phrase shows an honest, unadorned prayer in which all her sorrow is placed in God's hands.
In time Hannah conceives and bears a son and names him Samuel because she asked him of the Lord. The name is a reminder that the child is an answer to prayer and not the fruit of human effort.
Hannah reminds Eli that the Lord gave her what she asked and that she now returns the child to him for life. Keeping a costly vow shows that her faith did not end when the answer came.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Hannah and Peninnah; Peninnah had children and Hannah did not. — 1 Samuel 1:2
Answer: Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. — 1 Samuel 1:3
Answer: That she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life and that no razor would touch his head. — 1 Samuel 1:11
Answer: He thought she was drunk, because her lips moved but no sound was heard. — 1 Samuel 1:12-14
Answer: Because she had asked him of the Lord. — 1 Samuel 1:20
Answer: She took him to Shiloh with a bull, flour and wine and presented him to Eli to leave him in the Lord's service. — 1 Samuel 1:24-28
1 Samuel 1 teaches that we may come to God just as we are: in tears, without polished words and without pretending that all is well. Hannah does not hide her bitterness; she pours it out before the Lord, and Scripture presents that prayer as a model, not a failure. In a small group or Sunday school class, this chapter makes room to speak frankly about requests that seem to go unanswered.
Hannah also shows generosity. The son she longed for she gives to the Lord, and she does it with joy. Ask what gifts from God (family, time, talents) you can place back in his hands. Eli, for his part, misjudged by appearances but corrected himself and blessed Hannah: a lesson for those who walk beside others in their pain.
1 Samuel 1 ends with Samuel given to the Lord at Shiloh and Hannah worshiping in trust. In the next chapter Hannah expresses her gratitude in a prayer of praise that announces how God reverses the fortunes of the humble, while Eli's household begins to show its corruption.
The text links the name to Hannah's request: she named him Samuel because she had asked him of the Lord. Many scholars connect it to the Hebrew idea of heard by God or name of God; in any case, the story stresses that Samuel is the fruit of prayer.
Hannah promised that no razor would touch the boy's head, a sign of special consecration to God. The text does not use the word Nazirite here, but the gesture recalls the dedication the law describes in Numbers 6 and marks Samuel as a child set apart for the Lord's service.
Scripture records it without approving it as the ideal. The story shows the conflict and pain it causes, such as the rivalry between Hannah and Peninnah, and does not present it as a model to imitate.